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> China and the cultural revolution/great leap forward should be a warning of what can happen when there is no oppositional veto power. In the Angloamerican We

> China and the cultural revolution/great leap forward should be a warning of what can happen when there is no oppositional veto power. In the Angloamerican West people always bring up the Cultural Revolution as a cautionary tale, but the Cultural Revolution removed the influence and power of the old Chinese elite from the society and established the dominance of people's congresses unshakably. Despite the undesirable happenings around it, it changed China's culture fundamentally. Even the father of the current president of China was purged from power during that revolution, leading to Xi being raised as a normal person and rising to the top from the village level, like almost all of the Chinese governing cadres - ending up with the ordinary people dominating the establishment. That is why China has a lot of street sweepers, garbage men, electricians etc in their people's congress while you won't see one single person with such a job in the US Congress or even a few in the major European countries' parliaments. They are dominated by the elites from the same social circles, or in the case of various European parliaments, by hundreds of years old aristocratic families and their relatives with similar surnames. So using the Cultural Revolution as a cautionary tale for the Trump administration not only does not make sense because it's not an accurate comparison, but also the assumptions behind the usage of it as such an example are misplaced from the start.

Kye 2y ago
There's one bartender in the US Congress, but the point seems to hold.
hayst4ck 2y ago
> They are dominated by the elites from the same social circles Education is far from elite making, maybe elite in a global sense, but not elite by American standards. Being elected to a position also makes the social circle. It might surprise you that many American politicians are real people with real non aristocracy backgrounds. In physics your selection of point of origin determines your ease of calculation. You selected some kind of aristocracy/dynastic rule vs the people origin, which gives you a warped analysis because you are unable to find the root cause. If you instead choose authoritarianism and unchecked power as your point of origin, the comparison to the cultural revolution is very apt. "Ignoring experts," is also directly applicable. > In the Angloamerican West people always bring up the Cultural Revolution as a cautionary tale, Perhaps that's a lot of indication that many people see it is a relevant cautionary tail based on their own judgement. One populist man with unchecked power caused one of the worlds worst famines by denying experts and reality. That is applicable.
- dumbledoren 1y ago
  > Education is far from elite making, maybe elite in a global sense, but not elite by American standards. Being elected to a position also makes the social circle. It might surprise you that many American politicians are real people with real non aristocracy backgrounds. Unfortunately, that is statistically and historically not the case: https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/class_domination.html https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/class_domination.html All the important positions are filtered. You are either born into the network or marry into it if you can.

Kye 2y ago

There's one bartender in the US Congress, but the point seems to hold.

hayst4ck 2y ago

> They are dominated by the elites from the same social circles Education is far from elite making, maybe elite in a global sense, but not elite by American standards. Being elected to a position also makes the social circle. It might surprise you that many American politicians are real people with real non aristocracy backgrounds. In physics your selection of point of origin determines your ease of calculation. You selected some kind of aristocracy/dynastic rule vs the people origin, which gives you a warped analysis because you are unable to find the root cause. If you instead choose authoritarianism and unchecked power as your point of origin, the comparison to the cultural revolution is very apt. "Ignoring experts," is also directly applicable. > In the Angloamerican West people always bring up the Cultural Revolution as a cautionary tale, Perhaps that's a lot of indication that many people see it is a relevant cautionary tail based on their own judgement. One populist man with unchecked power caused one of the worlds worst famines by denying experts and reality. That is applicable.

dumbledoren 1y ago
> Education is far from elite making, maybe elite in a global sense, but not elite by American standards. Being elected to a position also makes the social circle. It might surprise you that many American politicians are real people with real non aristocracy backgrounds. Unfortunately, that is statistically and historically not the case: https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/class_domination.html https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/class_domination.html All the important positions are filtered. You are either born into the network or marry into it if you can.